BYD’s premium brand Denza will add a new fully electric variant of the Z9GT shooting brake on Wednesday, September 9, General Manager Li Hui said on Weibo on Monday, describing it as a lighter-equipped car with the brand’s three-motor e³ system that will come “with more purchase benefits.”
Denza began as a joint venture between BYD and Mercedes-Benz and has been wholly BYD’s since the German carmaker sold its stake.
The Z9GT, styled under design chief Wolfgang Egger, opened a Z series that now runs to the Z9S sedan, in pre-sale since August, and the Z supercar, in pre-sale since last month.
The current Z9GT, refreshed on March 5, offers ‘e³’ on only one of its three battery-electric trims, the 369,800-yuan Performance model, leaving a 70,000-yuan gap to the single-motor Flash-Charge Flagship at 299,800 yuan.
The new trim is aimed at that gap, though Denza has not given a price or specification.
“Since launch, the new Z9GT has been the luxury GT sales champion for several consecutive months,” Li wrote, adding that the brand had heard from users who “want the ultimate handling of the pure-electric e³ system, combining luxury and performance, and hope to have a lighter-weight configuration option,” and that the new variant would “supplement the e³ pure-electric product line.”
The announcement lands in a week of quarter-end price moves in China.
Tesla put cash discounts of 10,000 and 5,000 yuan on inventory Model Ys and Model 3s on Monday, Xiaomi cut the presale prices of its Skynomad Max models by 20,000 and 30,000 yuan at their launch hours later, and Li Auto set out a lineup-wide switch to in-house batteries.
Denza’s answer is a new and cheaper trim rather than a cut, but Li’s “purchase benefits” line points the same way.
The Range It Slots Into
The March 5 refresh gave the Z9GT five trims.
The fully electric line comprises the Flash-Charge Premium at 269,800 yuan ($40,200), the Flash-Charge Flagship at 299,800 yuan ($44,700) and the e³ Flash-Charge Performance at 369,800 yuan ($55,100); the plug-in hybrids, both with e³, are the Premium at 309,800 yuan ($46,200) and the Flagship at 339,800 yuan ($50,600).
The two cheaper electric trims carry a single 370 kW rear motor, reach 100 km/h in 5.8 seconds and, with second-generation Blade packs of 102.3 or 122.5 kWh, are rated at 880 or 1,036 km CLTC, the latter the longest of any production electric car when launched.
The e³ Performance pairs a 230 kW front motor with two 310 kW rear motors for 850 kW (1,156 PS) and 1,210 Nm, 2.7 seconds to 100 km/h, and 820 to 860 km CLTC on the 122.5 kWh pack, or 600 km WLTP on export specifications.
Top speed is quoted at 240 km/h for the 2026 model year in Malaysia and 269 km/h for the European version; Denza has not reconciled the two.
All trims use BYD’s flash-charging system, 10% to 70% in five minutes and 10% to 97% in nine, on the company’s own stations.
The model is 5,195 mm long (5,180 mm in one specification), 1,990 mm wide and 1,490 mm high on a 3,125 mm wheelbase, with a 0.198 drag coefficient.
The new trim will also sit beneath the Z9S sedan, which opened pre-sales on August 3 at 319,800 to 389,800 yuan with 1,100 km of range and, in e³ form, 890 kW and 2.68 seconds to 100 km/h.
A lighter e³ Z9GT priced between the Flagship and the Performance would be the cheapest way into the three-motor system across both bodies.
Sales
The Z9GT sold 5,675 units in July, up about 595% on a year earlier but 12% below June’s 6,445, according to CPCA figures.
The Z9GT was launched in China on September 20, 2024, refreshed on March 5, 2026, went on sale in continental Europe in November 2025 with the United Kingdom to follow this year.
It was launched in Malaysia on July 15 at RM358,800 and in Australia last month.
Denza’s export specification quotes 600 km WLTP on the 122.49 kWh pack.
